DAILY KENT STATER Friday, April 29, 2011 • The independent student newspaper of Kent State University • Weather: Showers, HI 50, LO 39
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READ THESE STORIES AND MORE ON KENTWIRED.COM Audio expert to speak for May 4 events Stuart Allen, a forensic audio expert, will talk at the Kiva at 7 p.m. Tuesday about what he heard on a May 4 recording, which could potentially change history.
May 4th eyewitness travels to Vietnam to make amends May 4th survivor and self-proclaimed professional protestor Bill Arthrell is back in Kent to speak about his trip to Vietnam, where he apologized to the Vietnamese people for the war.
Library late-nighters cooking the books
Kent State professors discover, identify first antimatter of helium
Cassandra Beck
Physics professors Declan Keane and Spiros Margetis were among a group of physicians who recently discovered and identified antihelium-4, the largest antinucleus.
Ever wonder what goes on in the middle of the night at the Kent State University Library? For the first time, the library is open 24 hours a day, five days a week. We sent Daily Kent Stater reporter Cassandra Beck on a trip to the graveyard shift of the library.
cbeck6@kent.edu Daily Kent Stater
Here’s what she found:
College Fest story Campus police don’t anticipate problems for College Fest, but said they each shift will be at full staff of patrolling officers.
Political groups elect presidents Kent State’s left and right wing student organizations nominated and elected their executive board members to lead them for the 2011-2012 academic year.
KENTWIRED.COM Check out the photo slideshow of the Bruno Mars concert.
SAM VERBULECZ | DAILY KENT STATER
Seth Bain, junior English major, reads during a late-night study session at the library.
2:06 a.m. – The sidewalk is lined with dim streetlights as I walk from my car up to the library. I think of all the recent robberies. I think about receiving a Flash ALERTS: “Girl killed on way to library.” I power walk the rest of the way. As I approach the doors, I look up. All the floors are lit except for the top three. A couple of students stum-
ble out of the library. I attempt to open the front doors. They’re locked. I make eye contact with the security guard a little to the left inside the doors. He motions for me to walk around to the far left hand entrance, the only doors open from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. I hand the security guard my FLASHcard. He swipes it and mumbles, “thanks.” I walk through the doors and stand there for a second; it’s almost dead quiet, and I don’t know where to go. One guy shuffles books behind the circulation desk; usually there are three or four people working there. I make my way through the first floor. There is not a soul in the computer lab area. There are about eight students on the first floor alone; almost all of them with papers and books spread out, working by themselves. One pair of students sits at a reference computer, pointing at the screen and whispering back and forth. I sit down at a computer and check my email. Good thing I drank coffee before I left.
2:22 a.m. – I press the “up” button at the elevator. I wait a few moments and then the doors open and a group of four people walk out. It sounds like they’re discussing a group project. I take the elevator to the second floor, where I see two girls sitting in a glassed-in study room, both staring at Facebook screens instead of books. I walk along the second floor, noticing about six people, almost all wearing earbuds and poring over books. A kid who sits overlooking Risman Plaza stretches and seems to be taking a small break from his work. “I’m usually here a lot — usually from 11 p.m to 3 a.m.,” said Eric Pahls, freshman nursing major. Pahls is working on a paper for Music as a World Phenomenon due the next day. He says he chooses to study in the library rather than his dorm in Wright Hall because it’s quieter. A constant, steady sound of a floor cleaner rumbles in the background. 2:39 a.m. – I make my way up to the third floor only to realize that there really is nowhere to go on that
The perks of being a university president Kate Murphy
Students may gripe about the size of President Lester Lefton’s paycheck, but many do not know exactly what their tuition money is paying for. Kent State is paying for Lefton to drive a new car every two years, have a crew clean his house three times a week and a membership to two clubs of his choosing. Lefton’s annual earnings are middle ground for state schools in Ohio. He is paid a base salary of $378,000 per year and is eligible for an annual performance bonus up to 20 percent. His salary falls between The Ohio State University’s presidential salary of $775,000 and Youngstown State’s presidential salary of $239,000. “I don’t set my salary,” Lefton said. “The Board of Trustees sets my compensation. There is a national market for college presidents. There are college presidents around the country that earn $2 million a year or $3 million a year. I’m no where near that compensation level.” According to an article on businessweek.com, the highest paid university president
HOUSING PAID FOR
CAR PROVIDED
MEMBERSHIP TO CLUBS
HOUSECLEANING BEFORE/AFTER FUNCTIONS
FULL TIME HOUSECLEANING
SNOW REMOVAL
is Henry Bienen of Northwestern University, which a private university in Illinois. His total annual compensation is $1,742,560, which includes his salary, retirement package, performance bonus, use of house and car and other perks. Although Lefton doesn’t make as muc h mo ne y as Bienen, the Board of Trustees did provide a large number of perks drawn up in his contract to accompany his salary. The university will provide Lefton with an American model automobile of his choosing to be leased by the university for his
exclusive use. The university will pay for insurance, maintenance, fuel, taxes, licenses, registrations and other expenses. Four weeks of paid vacation outside business and professional meetings are given each academic year. All his travel, entertainment and other expenses during this time will be paid for him and also for his wife, Linda Lefton. Membership in two clubs of Lefon’s choice will also funded by Kent State to facilitate fundraising and recruitment for the university. See PERKS, Page 5
major. “My test is tomorrow. I’ll be here until I feel ready for it.” Sumner says she studies at the library because she can focus more. “The silence kind of creeps me out, but I don’t want to move all my stuff,” she says. I walk in and out of the rows of journals all along the fifth floor. I try not to scare the random students tucked into random tables and chairs among the bookshelves. 3:07 a.m. – I make my way up to the sixth floor and count a total of five people there. One kid sits with his hood up and his face down in his arms, sleeping. Everyone is studying with coffee and energy drinks on the tables. I sit for a little and check Facebook on my phone; no one says a word the entire time. 3:18 a.m. – I take the steps to the seventh floor and see no one. I’m creeped out. Just as I’m walking along the back row of books, I see a girl sitting by the window, books spread out all over the table in front of her. See LIBRARY, Page 5
KSU says: “Goodbye Prince of Thieves” Allison Smith
asmith75@kent.edu Daily Kent Stater
Kmurph23@kent.edu Daily Kent Stater
floor. The old audiovisual services area is locked with a gate and all the office doors are closed. I hear a sound and jump, only to see a custodian pushing a cart out of the bathroom. I take the stairs up to the fourth floor and relax when I see three students at the desk and tables outside of the Writing Commons. I walk up and down the stacks of books looking for students tucked into desks among the bookshelves. I don’t find anyone, so I sit down and pull out “19 minutes,” a novel I brought and read for 20 minutes or so. 3 a.m. – I head up to the other floors, and I must admit, I couldn’t get the idea of a “library ghost” out of my head. (An administrator had told me about it for another story.) I’m conscious of every sound I hear even checking behind me a few times as I climb the stairs higher. I get to the fifth floor and find a girl sitting at a table by the elevator. Her books and papers are spread across almost the entire table. She’s studying Cost Accounting. “I’ve been here since five,” says Kyleigh Sumner, junior accounting
The news of the possible demolition of the Robin Hood has disappointed two previous employees of the former restaurant and bar. Kim Brown, account clerk for the City of Kent’s building department said Christine Coven, the owner of the building, was issued a demolition permit on April 21. “They do have permission from the city of Kent to demolish the building,” Brown said. “Right now the contractor is checking it over, and they will try to remove some of the interior before it happens.” Brown said she doesn’t know when the Robin Hood will be demolished, but the buildings department will have to go in and inspect it before it happens. Matthew Roads and Helen Dix both worked at the Robin Hood during their college years but in different eras. Matthew Roads lived in Kent for six years and worked at the Robin Hood for five years. His jobs varied from bartender to head of security to booking the shows before it closed in the summer of 2010. “There wasn’t much warning,” he said. “It was kind of a lease thing between the landlord and the owner.” Roads said he heard about the possibility that the Robin Hood will
be demolished through the newspaper and on Facebook. “It’s a bummer, the Robin Hood, being so close to campus,” he said, “I t has so much potential still but it seems the pattern was it kind of came in and out over the years.” He said he was a DJ on Thursday nights for the last two years and performed part of his band, Tropidelic. “I still play in it up here in Cleveland, but that was a big part of why I was always there and had so many good times there, too,” he said. Dix was a waitress at the Robin Hood in the 1930s when it was a restaurant. “It’s breaking my heart,” she said. “I feel bad. Any place you have a pleasant time, you feel bad about it (being demolished).” Dix said she had a lot of fun with her fellow workers. “I just served and on Saturdays we had to scrub the furniture and clean the place. We had a good time,” she said. “It was companionship, really. The wrestling team worked in the kitchen, they washed the dishes.” Dix said she came to Kent State because she got a job at the Robin Hood. “I had a high school teacher that had gone to Kent and he took me down and they interviewed me at the Robin Hood and offered me a job, and so that’s why I went,” she said. She said the Robin Hood was a high-class restaurant back when she worked there. See ROBIN HOOD, Page 5